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Amen, it was too hard for me to figure out. I have had two sided, but, in the end ran them all off the left side. When you judge in this neck of the woods, Ed, it is fun to watch, hmm let's study this for a bit as the clients ask their pros what side to run.

I have a couple of good two side stories but will keep them off the forum. When two sided heeling came into vogue it was fun to sit in the gallery at the National Amateur and listen to the endless discussions among handlers about which side to run the dog from on a particular test. I have no doubt that there is some advantage for very accomplished amateur handlers and pros but the average amateur rarely masters lining the dog up accurately on one side much less two. The biggest advantage it seems to me is blocking the flyer which I sometimes wished I could do.

The dogs that I had that were two sided - Ace and Zowie - figured out that the flyer was on the off side and would jump forward to look at it. That's when I said "this isn't working."

The problem I had with it was the memory bird, the last time I ran a dog a trial on the right side, bird was thrown right long retired, bad decision, 300 yards, over ran still running. Was told by the gallery experts should have run it off the left side because it was retired. Never ran off right again. Still basic trained both sides, easy to teach, because I sold some derby dogs to two sided pros. Guess I am just not bright enough to do it on a regular basis, not training 18 to 25 big dogs a day to get proficient at it.

but never understood why a right hander would want a left healer. I'm sure there is a reason i'm not aware of. (?)

Shells eject to the right side with a right handed shotgun and vice versa for a left. You have to take in consideration the hot gases and noise coming from the shotguns ejection port, potential for burns and the dog going deaf far sooner than he normally would. The other problem is what if the dog creeps or breaks, where is the dog going to be? Thats right, possibly in the shot cone coming from the muzzle, leading to injury or death.